GUIDE: How to prepare your clip in extensions
You have read the FAQs, you know you want clip-in extensions, and you went with Bellami. Fantastic!
This is where most brides stop, proudly handing over an unopened package of hair to their stylist on the wedding day. A skilled stylist will work with just about anything, but a little preparation beforehand can make the difference between "oh, wow!" and "oh. wow."
Unopened hair extensions look stunning in the package, for good reason. No one is buying hair that looks used. To create that glossy, smooth, shelf-ready look, hair is typically heavily treated before packaging. The products manufacturers use to get the hair looking its best for sale are waxy, sometimes have a smell, and the hair has almost always been flat ironed. That is a fantastic way to sell hair and a terrible way to style it.
Extensions are a modest investment. It does not take much effort to get them ready for wedding-day styling, and the payoff is worth it. Here are the few extra steps to take once the hair is in your hands.
The short version: wash them, dry them, color match if needed, and do not trim them.
Wash them as soon as you get them.
Shampoo your new clip-ins before the day of your wedding. You may want to go through twice. This removes whatever the manufacturer used to make them look good in the package, which is usually the same stuff that will make them slippery and difficult to hold a curl. Condition them too, just make sure it is fully rinsed out. The hair needs to be completely dry before putting them back in the packaging for safekeeping. Wet hair sealed in a box will stay damp and start to smell in a way you likely do not want lingering around at the altar. They do not need to be blow-dried. A good comb through and a hanger air dry will work just fine.
Color match them at your last appointment.
The rooty, darker-at-the-base look is still very much having a moment, and a lot of brides with highlights are wearing a more blended balayage. A solid chunk of golden blonde sitting against buttery balayage is going to show. Bring your clip-ins to your last color appointment before the wedding and let your colorist match them to your hair, likely right at the roots and blended down without harsh color lines. It does not need to be a perfect match. It just needs to not be obvious.
Do not trim them.
Get the right length from the start. Twelve inches works well for mid-length and upstyles. Up to twenty inches for longer, down styles. Some of that length will naturally shorten during the curl process anyway. More importantly, hair always looks better when it tapers at the ends. Blunt extensions are difficult to blend and tend to look choppy in a finished style. Your stylist may trim a piece or two as a finishing touch, and that is their call to make. What they should not have to work around is a set of blunt-end extensions that you want to look seamless. If you have ever looked at two nearly identical hairstyles and one looks perfect but the other one is just slightly off and you cannot quite put your finger on why, it is almost always the blocky, blunt ends showing off.
Clip-in extensions are almost always a necessity for the current trending bridal hairstyles. You may not realize that what you love about a style is the fullness, and that the most viral inspiration photos are leaning heavily on clip-ins to achieve it. If you are planning on wearing your hair down or half up, we cannot suggest investing in additional hair enough. They are the key factor in getting that glamorous down-do you might be hoping for.